0000000000049550

AUTHOR

Nga L. Ng

Estimating the contribution of organic acids to northern hemispheric continental organic aerosol

Using chemical ionization mass spectrometry to detect particle-phase acids (acid-CIMS) and aerosol mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements from Colorado, USA, and two studies in Hyytiala, Finland, we quantify the fraction of organic aerosol (OA) mass that is composed of molecules with acid functional groups (facid). Molecules containing one or more carboxylic acid functionality contributed approximately 29% (45-51%) of the OA mass in Colorado (Finland). Organic acid mass concentration correlates well with AMS m/z 44 (primarily CO2+), a commonly used marker for highly oxidized aerosol. Using the average empirical relationship between AMS m/z 44 and organic acids in these three studies, together…

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The AeroCom evaluation and intercomparison of organic aerosol in global models

This paper evaluates the current status of global modeling of the organic aerosol (OA) in the troposphere and analyzes the differences between models as well as between models and observations. Thirty-one global chemistry transport models (CTMs) and general circulation models (GCMs) have participated in this intercomparison, in the framework of AeroCom phase II. The simulation of OA varies greatly between models in terms of the magnitude of primary emissions, secondary OA (SOA) formation, the number of OA species used (2 to 62), the complexity of OA parameterizations (gas-particle partitioning, chemical aging, multiphase chemistry, aerosol microphysics), and the OA physical, chemical and op…

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